A Brief History of the 24^th Elmdale Group

By Gerald Erichsen

In 1929 a group of boys in the Elmdale district of Ottawa organized their own club which was known as the Elmdale Beavers. This club progressed for some time but the difficulty in finding adult leadership led to its deterioration and by the mid winter of 1930, it had reached the verge of distinction. At that time Mr. Stuart MacCraken who lived on Geneva Street and who as a youth had been a scout in the 14th. St. Andrews, Ottawa troop, decided to lend a hand. He called a meeting of some of the older boys and announced that he was going to organize a scout troop. Although surprised, the boys took to the idea with great enthusiasm. This was largely due to the respect the boys had for Mr. MacCraken. At the second meeting Mr. MacCraken announced his selection of leaders as follows; Troop leader, Gerald Erichsen; Patrol leaders, Lloyd Campbell, Gordon Fowler, Bill MacCraken, Grosart Robinson, Caple Slade and Arthur Wright. The following two or three meetings were attended by the leaders with Mr. MacCraken and the District Secretary, Mr. Jack Armstrong. During those meetings all the leaders qualified for their Tenderfoot badge and later they attended a scout meeting of the 9^th St. Barnabas Troop and were invested by the Scoutmaster, Mr. Ernest Solway. The following Friday the first scout meeting was held in Elmdale Public School with a full complement of six patrols.

You can imagine the difficulty Mr. MacCraken must have had with a group of 37 undisciplined boys some of whom were 15 years of age and none of whom had had previous scouting experience. But he was a man of considerable patience and perseverance and above all he was an outdoors man and a good teacher. Saturday hikes were organized throughout the spring and early summer and the troop flourished.

No scout troop can exist for long without a cub pack. So, in the spring of 1931 the district secretary Mr. Armstrong, organized one. He started by sitting in his car outside Elmdale school on several occasions watching boys on their way from School. Finally he called together several selected boys and after explaining what cubbing was he asked them if they would like to start a pack. They agreed and word soon got around with the result that the first meeting, which was held in the school playground the following Friday, was attended by some twenty prospective cubs.

Once established, difficulty was encountered in finding a Cubmaster. Mr. Armstrong, whose duties covered the whole of the Ottawa area and hence was unable to devote much time to the 24th. pack, resorted to assistance from older scouts or rovers in the district. Finally in the winter of 1932 Gerald Erichsen was appointed Cubmaster.

In those days there was no gymnasium in Elmdale School and cub and scout meetings were held in the Grade 1 classroom which faced the front entrance. Desks had to be removed to the hall and then placed back in position after the meetings. This was quite a task and often school books became mixed up much to annoyance of the Grade one teacher who would complain to the principa1, who in turn would complain to the Scoutmaster or Cubmaster whichever was unfortunate enough to be home when he phoned.

This was the beginning of the Elmdale Scouts and Cubs who the later received their charter in 1935 and became known as the 24^th Elmdale (Ottawa) Scout Group. They are one of the few groups in Ottawa who have continuously functioned since that date.

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